


Long Road Ahead

by Shadadukal



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 05:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3277694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadadukal/pseuds/Shadadukal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the end of the Battle of Five Armies, there is much to be done for Thorin Oakenshield.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Road Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Lferion for the beta. All remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
> There are some lines taken from the book and the film near the end.

It was all Fili could do to hold his brother back from rushing towards the sound they'd just heard. _Do not engage_ , their uncle had told them. For one moment, still holding onto Kili, Fili considered going to investigate the sound himself. He instantly felt an incredible sense of wrongness at the idea. _Scout out the towers_ , Thorin had said. But he also believed Azog hadn't fled, so what was there to scout really? The orcs were hiding and that could only mean one thing: it was a trap. 

"Let's go back," Fili decided.

Immediately, Kili protested. "Uncle said..."

Fili cut him off. "It's obviously a trap and we should be all four of us together to meet it if we're going to stand a chance." Fili started to walk back, dragging Kili after him the first few steps until Kili started to follow him without resisting, muttering under his breath about overbearing older brothers.

+++

Thorin urged Dwalin to go get Kili and Fili. He never should have sent them ahead on their own. What had he been thinking? Even without Bilbo's revelations, he should have realised they were walking into a trap. He was so thankful Bilbo had come to warn them, even after what had passed between them.

"They're already coming back," Dwalin called back.

Sure enough, Kili and Fili were carefully making their way across the frozen river. Thorin scanned the towers opposite, looking for any signs of Azog and his orcs. He thought he glimpsed movement in one of the higher levels. 

"DROP!" he roared in a tone of voice he knew his sister's sons would react to instinctively.

The pair threw themselves down onto the ice, sliding from their momentum. The arrow fired from the tower embedded itself into the frozen river. Thorin's heart skipped a beat, staggering in his chest, as he realised the arrow would have gone straight through Fili's heart if it hadn't been for his warning.

More arrows flew from the towers but Kili and Fili zigzagged the rest of the way and none of them found their mark. Once his sister's sons reached them, Thorin allowed himself a moment to gather them in a hug.

"We're fine, Uncle," Kili protested. Thorin just squeezed him a bit harder as he knew Kili actually relished the hug, his protests only stemming from his desire to appear more grown-up.

"Should we go now?" Bilbo said hesitantly.

Thorin released his sister's sons, the sons of his heart, and turned back towards Dwalin and Bilbo. "Let's go," he said, nodding in the direction of the stairs, while thinking that despite what great steeds goats made, it was really unfortunate they wouldn't stay put once their riders were off their back. They certainly would have made it easier to go back down Ravenhill. But before they could even make the stairs, orcs started to come over the walls, clearly the second army's vanguard. They all raised their weapons, even Bilbo. With one look at Dwalin, he ordered him to look after their burglar, as it looked like the hobbit wasn't going to go anywhere. 

There was no time for thought after that. Thorin surrendered to his battle frenzy, to the rage in his heart in the face of the evil that had taken so much from him already. Enemies started coming from across the river as well. Azog would be seeking him, Thorin knew. On the wind, he heard a high female voice calling for Kili. He shook his head. Now was hardly the time to hear voices that didn't exist.

+++

Tauriel raced across the bridge and up the stairs of Ravenhill, stopping briefly to shout Kili's name, Legolas right behind her. The giant bats they had seen at Gundabad started to swarm overhead, darkening the sky. Orcs began to pour down the stairs, having noticed the elven pair. But there were not enough orcs to stop them. Tauriel's daggers twirled a dance of death in her hands as Legolas cut down orc after orc with the ancient sword Orcrist. They finally made it onto a platform, one section down from the one the dwarves were fighting on. She couldn't see Kili and called for him again. This time he answered, her name ringing down to her ears. With some effort, Legolas and Tauriel managed to move their own fight nearer the dwarves. She scanned the area quickly. Kili was fighting beside the dwarf she had gathered was his brother. The bald tattooed dwarf was covering the fallen body of the hobbit. The dwarf king was on the frozen river, fighting Azog the Defiler.

+++

Fili wasn't entirely surprised when the female elf that had healed his brother arrived – Tauriel he thought her name was – but he was taken aback by the fact the blond elf that had captured them in Mirkwood was trailing her. Fili burned to join his Uncle against Azog but the huge orc with the great mace he was fighting with Kili was relentless and the two of them together only held him at bay with difficulty. Wielding Orcrist, the elf joined them against this orc. Between the three of them, they could probably have overwhelmed him, had Kili not gone to fight alongside Tauriel. Fili knew he should pay closer attention to the fight at hand but he couldn't help throwing desperate glances at his uncle now and again. With great effort, he pushed against the orc, creating an opening for the elf to strike, but it was for naught as two other orcs charged at him from his other side. Fili danced away from a kick the huge orc aimed at him. Instead of pursuing him, the orc turned towards the elf. Despite his agility, the elf wasn't quick enough and didn't entirely escaped the strike at his leg.

"Legolas!" Tauriel cried.

Fili launched himself at the orc, lest the orc press his advantage against the elf.

+++

In all his centuries of life, this was the most serious wound Legolas had ever suffered, for all that it probably wasn't all that serious, provided there was no poison. He hadn't felt the weapon go in that deeply as the young dwarf had distracted Bolg. A rapid glance around showed Tauriel and the dark-haired dwarf fighting in concert, the bald one protecting the fallen body of the halfling and Thorin Oakenshield battling Azog the Defiler. In that instant, Azog's mace connected violently with the dwarf's sword and broke it, the force of the blow sending Oakenshield to the ground where he slid on the ice towards them from the momentum. Legolas didn't hesitate. He called to the dwarf and threw Orcrist. Thorin caught it adroitly and strode towards Azog again. 

"Legolas!" It was the dwarf fighting Bolg that had called him this time and he swirled on his feet as he drew his daggers, thus blocking the mace aimed at his head.

+++

The arrival of the eagles was fortuitous, providing Thorin with the opening he needed against Azog. Orcrist slid into the orc's leg severing it at the knee and, staring into his enemy's eyes, Thorin poured all his hatred for him into the killing stroke. Azog's severed head rolled on the ice, settling in a crack between two blocks. The relief he felt was breathtaking, the weight of the need for revenge finally lifted from his shoulders after so long. He couldn't remember ever feeling this light. It was a heady dizzying feeling.

Being careful on the severely damaged ice, Thorin rejoined his sister-sons, Bilbo and the elves. Fili was supporting Legolas, who was bleeding from a leg wound, while Dwalin held up three fingers in front of a dazed-looking Bilbo. Meanwhile, Kili and a female elf he remembered from Mirkwood were staring at each other and holding hands. Thorin bristled at the sight. 

"Are you all right?" Dwalin asked him, his eyes drifting to Thorin's forehead. 

"I am." There was some dreadful pounding in his skull. His head had never hurt that much. Turning towards the elven prince, he inclined his head as thanks for the timely return of Orcrist. Stepping away from Fili, Legolas unbuckled Orcrist's scabbard from his hips and handed it to him. Thorin was careful to take it respectfully, despite his desire to grab it. The sword and everything belonging to it was his. If Lord Elrond, a high elf, was fine with the sword being in Thorin's keeping, wood elves would have to learn to live with it.

"Bilbo needs a healer," Dwalin said.

"I'm fine!" Bilbo protested, almost losing his balance in his agitation. Thorin looked him over. Over than the blow to his head, the hobbit appeared fine, but with head wounds, appearances could be very deceiving indeed. 

"Let us all get back down," the red-haired elf said. "The orc armies are fleeing." She left Kili's side then to help Fili support Legolas.

"Tauriel, the wound is not that grievous."

"It will still be all the better the less weight you put on your leg," Tauriel replied in a tone that brooked no argument.

So Thorin led the way down, followed by Bilbo, with Dwalin hovering close behind, Fili, Legolas and Tauriel together, and Kili behind them. Indeed, the last of the orcs were presently disappearing down the holes they had emerged from, while the eagles flew high over head. They had descended two flights of stairs when Bilbo stumbled into his back, despite Dwalin's attempt to catch him. Thorin quickly gestured for Dwalin to carry him, Bilbo's head injury certainly serious if it caused him to lose his balance. Bilbo's protests and threats upon Dwalin's person were quite amusing and Thorin chuckled silently, knowing no one could see him. The hobbit was very creative with language. Clear elven laughter rang behind him and he turned his head. Tauriel was laughing heartily, her head thrown back, while still holding Legolas strongly. Kili startled at the sight of her uninhibited laugh and lost his footing, crashing into his brother. The trio floundered, a cry of pain escaping Legolas's lip at the sudden lurch.

"Kili, come here," Thorin called. Miraculously, Kili didn't disobey him. Was the boy growing up? That would allow Thorin to rest easier at night if that were the case. Perhaps he simply didn't want to give into childish refusal in front of the elves. That was far more likely.

They were half-way down when Thorin noticed a solitary figure coming up towards them. It was that accursed elven king. Strange that he was alone, without any kind of retinue or guard. They met up two thirds of the way down. Thorin tensed but Thranduil barely spared him a glance, instead focusing on his son. Thorin didn't need to understand Sindarin to know Legolas was rebuffing his father's worry and trying to downplay his injury. The look on his face was fairly recognisable to anyone who had ever raised a child. In the end, it appeared Legolas won the argument as Fili and Tauriel remained the ones who propped him up, and Thranduil stormed down the slope, his robe billowing behind him from the force of his strides.

"He's going to make sure there is a medical tent prepared for those of us who need it."

"Look on the bright side of being wounded," Fili said. "You won't have to help carry orc bodies to be disposed of."

"There is that," Legolas said. Thorin turned back to look at him as the elf sounded as if he was far away. He was staring into the distance but it was clear he was lost in memory. Thorin didn't know how old the elf was, but from the look of him, he clearly had had to help dispose of orc bodies in the past.

"I think I twisted my ankle", Kili said. But his limp was clearly fake and Thorin cuffed him on the back of the head.

"You'll help along with all those who can," Thorin said. Kili grumbled softly, his complaints for Thorin alone to hear. 

Balin was waiting for them at the bottom of the slope and directed them to a tent that had been erected in a body-free corner of the battlefield. There were a couple elven healers there, as well as Oin, who immediately insisted on seeing to him, despite Thorin's protest that none of his wound were that serious, not even the one on his forehead. He had other cuts, where Azog's blade had grazed him, and he felt very bruised along most of his right side. Despite Thorin's insistence that Oin should take care of Bilbo first as their burglar was far more fragile, the hobbit was swept up by one of the elven healers, while the second one looked to his prince.

+++

Fili looked on as Oin gestured Thorin towards a curtained-off section of the tent. Fili followed after them and helped his uncle strip down to his smallclothes despite his protest. His under-tunic was half caked with blood. Thorin's right side was a mess of purple bruises, some of them near black and there was a cut that only seemed shallow to Fili on his stomach as well as one on his thigh and another on his forehead. Oin swore and, after having had Thorin lie down on a low bed, set to cleaning that stomach wound.

Fili himself was only exhausted, and he probably had his share of bruises as well, but there was no need for him to be in a healing tent. He didn't want to leave his uncle. Yet earlier Thorin had expressed a clear wish for them to help in the aftermath where they could. So he nodded towards his uncle, letting him know he'd be along later and left the private section of the tent.

Bilbo's head wound had been carefully bandaged, and he was sitting on a bed, munching on a wafer of bread that was clearly elven-made.

"How is Thorin?" he asked upon seeing Fili.

"Cut up and bruised, but he'll be fine." Fili himself wasn't entirely sure of that, but there was no point in worrying the hobbit just yet. If Thorin took a turn for the worst, if his wounds got infected, there would be time then. Fili turned towards the tent's other patient.

"Not going to lose the leg then?" he joked as Legolas was being stitched up. The elven healer seemed perturbed as the gallows humour, but whether it was due to the joke in itself or the fact it had been directed at his prince, Fili couldn't say.

"It seems that I will be able to enjoy not having to pile orc carcasses up without a worry." There was the slightest grin on the elf's face.

Fili snorted. "Well, not all of us are so lucky as to be careless in battle. Come on, Kili, Uncle said we were to help." For a moment, Kili looked as if he was considering knocking himself out to escape his fate. But after a moment, he walked towards the tent's entrance, glancing back towards Tauriel, who was standing beside Legolas's bed. His brother walked straight into the tent wall, cursed and blushed to the tip of his ears, exiting hastily without another look back. All grace, his little brother. And heading straight for trouble, falling for an elf. But that was a problem for another day.

Balin was outside the tent, talking with Dwalin, who was standing guard. 

"What's the organisation?" Fili asked.

"The men are clearing Dale, we the plains and the elves are split between the two areas. How is Thorin? And Bilbo?"

"Bilbo's eating, so he's fine," Fili said. "Uncle has seen better days and while Oin was swearing, he didn't look very worried. I think you can see for yourself if you like. We have to go help." And Fili set off to do just that, dragging his brother behind him.

+++

Two elven healers walked out of the tent, followed closely by a shorter red-haired elf, who took up guard duty on the opposite side of the entrance from Dwalin. Balin remembered her from Mirkwood. It was likely the elf that had healed Kili in Laketown, as reported by Oin.

"What's your name, lass?" he asked.

She looked curiously at him, less detached than most elves were. "I am called Tauriel, Master Dwarf."

"Balin, son of Fundin, at your service." He bowed to her and she inclined her head to him in turn. His brother grumbled behind him but Balin paid him no mind and entered the tent. Bilbo was resting in a bed, the prince of Mirkwood in another.

"Balin! How is everybody? The company?"

"We've suffered no injury, though I'm sure we would quite like to be able to have a good meal and rest, but there is much to be done."

"What can I do to help?" Bilbo said, starting to rise.

"No need, laddie. You can't carry a heavy weight and you deserve the rest anyway."

"There must be something I can do. I'm perfectly fine."

Legolas interrupted the stubborn hobbit's protests. "You couldn't stand earlier."

"I tripped!"

It was clear from the dubious expression on the elf's face that Bilbo was downplaying the consequences of his head injury. He most probably had a severe concussion. Still it wouldn't do to have him run off in his desire to help.

"I'll see if there's some light duty that you can be charged with," he said to placate Bilbo. "But first I must speak with Thorin."

Oin was putting the last careful stitches on a cut in Thorin's stomach. There were other cuts left unattended, and a serious collection of deep bruises.

"Balin."

"Stay still, laddie," Oin interrupted, as Thorin had shifted as if he meant to get up.

Balin hurried closer to the bed. He relayed what news he had about the company, about Dain, and about what was going on outside the tent. Thorin listened carefully and, once Balin was silent, he started laying out his orders in Khuzdul.

"Balin, you need to go into Erebor. Gather the white gems of Lasgalen. Put some gold in a chest, one large enough that it doesn't seem a ridiculous amount to offer as a first sign of goodwill. Once that is done, bring them here. Take only members of the company to help you. After bringing those items here, get Thranduil and Bard to come see me. And Dain. And Fili."

"Right away."

"Wait! I also need you to find me some clean clothes. And I need to talk to Bilbo right away."

"He's just outside; I'll get him."

+++

Oin moved on to cleaning the cut on his head. Thorin couldn't help hissing as it stung badly. From the other side of the curtain, Balin was relaying his request to Bilbo. Thorin had to make amends; he could only hope Bilbo would be willing to listen. A few seconds later, the hobbit slipped in silently. It had always amazed Thorin how Bilbo could move without the slightest noise when he wished it.

"Bilbo, come closer if you will." Without hesitation, he did so, grabbing Thorin's hand with his much smaller one. Thorin looked at him, taking in the clean bandage around his head. With rest Bilbo would be fine. And he would be able to go back to his books, to his armchair, to his garden where he could plant his trees and watch them grow. Thorin didn't want him to leave, but the Shire was where Bilbo belonged. The only thing he could offer him were his apologies.

"Master Burglar, I would take back my words and deeds at the gate. I wish for us to be friends again, though I do not deserve your forgiveness. I am sorry that I have led you into such perils, child of the kindly West."

"I am glad to have shared in your perils, Thorin, each and every one of them. That has been far more than any Baggins deserve. However, there is nothing to forgive as you were not yourself, taken by dragon-sickness." Bilbo's kindness was humbling. He was like no other being Thorin had ever met. Such selflessness and compassion so freely offered; this was such a rare occurrence and therefore all the more treasured.

"If more of us valued food and good cheer and song and home above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. " Thorin squeezed Bilbo's hand, hoping Bilbo understood how much he meant to Thorin. The hobbit was smiling, but there were a few tears on his cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" Thorin let go of Bilbo's hand to brush aside his tears.

"We all made it, Thorin. All of the company, we're alive. That's... that's what I wanted." It hurt that it had fallen to Bilbo to take care of his people when he had been too blinded by his greed. He had fallen to dragon sickness despite his best intentions and he was so thankful to Bilbo for having taken steps to stay his madness.

"I should have seen it. I should have... At least, my folly didn't cost your life," Thorin said, guilt heavy in his heart even if all the members of the company had survived. He had much to atone for.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
